


you're... alive?

by EthelPhantom



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Irondad, Not A Fix-It, Please Let Peter Be Happy, Quite Literally, Someone give the boy a hug, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 21:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20015344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: Peter had absolutely no idea how he’d ended up here. He didn’t even know where this ‘here’ was.And so, in his panic, he took his phone and with trembling hands, he dialed the first number he could think of. The number of someone who had told him he’d help if Peter needed him. The number of someone who said he would be there for Peter always. Mr Stark’s number.





	you're... alive?

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on Tumblr about Peter ending up in another universe and calling Tony only to realise he was dead, but then Tony answers anyway. Then it took me some time before I put it on my list of fanfic ideas, and then today I got an irresistible urge to write it and... well, here we are. 
> 
> Irondad and spiderson own my heart. I love them so much.
> 
> Edit: Wow, it's been only a few days and already 67 kudos and over 1,000 hits o.O Thank you so much!

Peter had absolutely no idea how he’d ended up here. He didn’t even know where this ‘here’ was.

He was still clearly in Queens, sure, but when he’d gone home, the person inside the apartment hadn’t been May. When he asked where May was, he was told that a May Parker had moved out a few months prior. To where, they didn’t know. 

And May had most definitely not moved out a few months prior. Peter had eaten breakfast with her the week before at home. He’d know. Sure, May had been talking about moving out then, but that was because of what happened with Mysterio. 

Oh god, Peter hoped May was safe. 

But, the person clearly believed their words to be true, so Peter let it go. That, and they didn’t recognise him like everyone did and should have. Mysterio had taken care of that. It was clear he wasn’t at _his_ Queens anymore. 

And so, in his panic, he took his phone and with trembling hands, he dialed the first number he could think of. The number of someone who had told him he’d help if Peter needed him. The number of someone who said he would be there for Peter always. Mr Stark’s number.

Peter lifted the phone to his ear, and after two beeps he realised that Mr Stark had died in the war against Thanos. Peter had _watched_ Mr Stark die in front of his eyes. He’d seen as the light faded from his dying eyes and heard as his heartbeats ceased as Mrs Potts held her composure, trying to comfort him and not let him in on all of their pain. Oh, how he had cursed his heightened senses.

He was just about to end the call when it connected. 

“ _Hello? Who is this, and why do you have Peter’s phone?_ ”

Mr Stark’s voice came from the other side of the call and it wasn’t his voicemail. Peter started crying and only barely managed to stop himself from tossing his phone to the other side of the road. 

“ _Hello?_ ”, the voice said again. 

Peter gulped and put the phone back on his ear. 

“Hey Mr Stark”, he all but whispered and heard a loud gasp.

“ _Kid? Is it really you? Tell me where you are and I’ll pick you up._ ”

“I’m— I’m in front of my apartment. In Queens”, he managed to say as tears spilled from his eyes, flowing down his cheeks. 

“ _Okay. Okay. Wait there, I’ll be there as soon as I can_ ”, Mr stark answered, and Peter heard textile shuffling. He was putting his jacket on. “ _Yeah, I have to go. I’m gonna pick up my kid— no, not Morgan, Pepper has her. Okay, yeah, Gillison, sure, we’ll talk about this later, I promise, but I gotta go now._ ”

Peter was pretty certain he wasn’t meant to here the last part, but Mr Stark calling him his kid made a tiny smile spread across his face even though he wasn’t able to stop crying.

Peter sat down on the nearest bench and hugged his knees after the call disconnected. He was hyperventilating and couldn’t for the life of his steady his breaths.

Mr Stark was alive and he was coming to pick him up. Mr Stark wasn’t dead. That was everything Peter had been wishing for for the last eight months. He just wanted his mentor (his father figure) back. Mrs Potts had, at some point, told him that Mr Stark had figured out time travelling because he wanted Peter back, and even though it hadn’t been meant as an accusation, that was how it felt like. Despite it, Peter had smiled and agreed that Mr Stark was amazing, not letting her know how he felt. 

And then there was the Mysterio fiasco. He should have known better than to trust Beck, to give him EDITH (which he had with him now at all times just in case (“in case of what, Peter??”, his mind scolded him)), but he did so nonetheless. And now, because of that, almost the entire world was after him. First, it had only been New York City, but then the rumours spread like unsupervised wildfire — like they always did — and in just a few days the entirety of the United States wanted him imprisoned. The rest of the world followed suit when the news was finally released to them as well. 

There were only a handful of people who still trusted him, like May, MJ, Ned, Mrs Potts, Mr Rhodes, and maybe some Avengers, but none of them had time to help him. May, MJ, and Ned couldn’t really help anyway, they could merely try to keep him hidden, but the three of them also needed to stay safe themselves. The rest of them were too busy trying to keep the world in at least some kind of peace after everything. 

Maybe, whatever this alternate universe was, it was better to stay here since no one seemed to recognise him. That was, if Mr Stark thought he could stay. Because he would, in a heartbeat. That way May and his friends could truthfully say they didn’t know where he was and the world would think he was dead after a while, and then his family would be safe and alright. 

“Kid? Are you alright?”

Peter snapped away from his thoughts and turned to look at the source of the voice. 

Mr Stark stood in front of his eyes, a worried look on his face. He had lifted his sunglasses on top of his head. Peter’s eyes widened. Sure, he had known Mr Stark was alive here, but he was still shocked. Tears started flowing down Peter’s cheeks once again and he all but charged at Mr Stark, hugging him. 

“You’re here— you’re alive. You— you really are alive”, Peter choked out as Mr Stark hugged him back, just as tight as Peter did. “I’m so happy.”

“You stole the words right out of my mouth, kid. How are you alive anyway? I watched you die in the battle against Thanos when you decided to use the damned stones. Which, if I may say, was very fucking stupid of you.”

“But— I—”

When words decided to fail Peter, he just sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’ve got time. Why don’t you come over? Your aunt moved ages ago, and I have no idea where she went. She also told me to never contact her again, so I don’t think this is a good time to try and reach out to her.”

“Yeah, that… That’s a good idea.”

Peter followed Tony to his car where Happy was already waiting. “Hi Happy”, Peter said as Mr Stark held the door open for him. 

“Peter?”

“Yeah Happy, it’s indeed Pete, somehow. We should let the kid rest for now. He seems to have had a long day. I’ll let you question him later”, Mr Stark said when Peter seemed not to want to answer. 

Peter’s eyelids were too heavy to keep open. He was too tired of all the crying and panicking, and decided that now that he was safe, he could sleep, and sleep he did. 

When he opened his eyes again, they were at Mr Stark’s home. Peter couldn’t help but remember the funeral, but then he looked at Mr Stark, a reminder that he wasn’t dead. He didn’t need to care about it.

“Pep, we’re home! Oh, hi Morguna, how was your day?”, Mr Stark asked the little girl who ran towards him arms extended towards him as he picked her up. He spun her around, and Peter watched a smile on his face as Morgan giggled. 

Yeah, this was a family Peter wished for as well. This was something he wished he had but wasn’t allowed to have. 

“Hey Tony. Gillison called and said you left the meeting, _again_ , only this time you said you were going to pick up your kid who was not her. Do you have something you want to tell—”, Mrs Potts started, but when she stepped out of the kitchen to them, her eyes immediately went to Peter. Her eyes widened as she walked towards her, her hand hovering only a few inches from him when she got to him. “...Peter? Is it really you?”

“Hello Mrs Potts”, Peter replied and waved a little. Mrs Potts touched his face and pulled him to a hug when she confirmed he was, indeed, real. 

“Oh thank heavens. You’re back. You’re alive”, she murmured. Morgan soon joined in and hugged his leg, and then Mr Stark hugged him as well. He was comfortable there, in the middle of the three of them and thought he never wanted that moment to stop.

“This is nice”, Peter said and hugged Mrs Potts back, unable to hug the other two. 

Yeah, a family like this was what he wanted and now he was given it, at least for a short moment. 

“And now, now I want to know how you’re here”, Mr Stark said when they finally let go of him. “Because you really did die in the battle, and then when I saw you earlier today, you said something about me being alive, which indicates I was dead.”

Just as Peter was about to answer, Mrs Potts led him to the living room and sat him down. “You can talk here. I want to know later, but Morgan needs a bath and I can’t leave her alone.”

“So?”

“Ugh, this is so difficult to explain. Like, you died? In the battle against Thanos? You took the gauntlet and snapped Thanos and his army out of existence, and then I watched you die and Mrs Potts said you could rest now and—”

“Take a breath, kid, I’m not leaving anywhere.”

“And I listened to your heartbeats and then they slowed down and ceased completely. And I don’t know how I ended up here. I think this is an alternate universe or an alternate world or something, because you’re alive and no one recognises me here. No one hates me.”

Mr Stark stopped completely and looked at him. “Why would anyone hate you?”

“It’s because Beck said I was evil and was going to use your technology against the world. And he revealed my identity as Spider-Man to everyone. He held a grudge against you because you fired him but I didn’t know and I trusted him and gave him EDITH because I thought that was what you wanted me to do, to find someone worth them, but then he betrayed me and almost killed all my friends and then he died and yeah. The world has hated me for the past two and a half weeks more than anything.” Peter hated to admit his failure to Mr Stark, but he was sure he wouldn’t hate him because of it. He could always trust Mr Stark even if he couldn’t trust the rest of the world. 

“Oh kid. Is there anyone on your side in your world?”, Mr Stark asked. 

“Yeah, Mrs Potts and Happy and May and Aunt May and my friends and Mr Rhodey, but my friends and May can’t do much and the rest of them are busy. And Doctor Strange probably trusts me as well, but he’s got other things to take care of”, Peter replied. It was true, Doctor Strange was unavailable for some reason, probably taking care of multiversal threats. 

“And why are Pepper, Rhodey and Happy not helping you?”

“They’re all helping, especially Happy has helped me, but they’re trying to keep the world from exploding on me and my family too quickly.”

Tony massaged his forehead, looking like he was trying to get rid of a sudden headache. “Okay. Do you want to stay here, then? My Peter died and well, there’s one more room in this house. It was always for this world’s Peter, and unless you want to go back home and also know how to get there, you could have it. It’s not like I could throw you out to the streets anyway.”

Peter’s eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across his face. “Could I really stay?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

“I’d absolutely love to! Thank you so much Mr Stark! Then I wouldn't be a burden on everyone in my world anymore and they could stop worrying about me and—”

“On one condition.”

Peter visibly deflated. Of course there was a condition, there always was. 

“Stop calling me Mr Stark. My name is Tony.”

Oh, it was just that. That was fine. He would be able to call Mr Stark Tony. It was easy. 

“Thank you Mr Tony! I mean, Stark, no, Tonark— oh my god. Stony— Oh god no. T— Ton— _Dad!_ ” 

A blush crept on Peter’s face when he realised he just called Mr Stark “Dad”. Oh god, he was so embarrassed. 

Mr Stark — no, Tony (why was it so easy in his head?!) — looked at him, shocked, before he grinned and pulled Peter into a hug. “Sure, Dad works perfectly well, too. Actually, that’s probably better than Tony anyway.”

Peter smiled and wrapped his arms around Tony as well. This was indeed nice. 

He had thought nothing was going to be okay after Beck told the world his identity, but right now, things seemed to be getting better. 

Yeah, maybe he would be fine. 

He had a family again, Mr Stark — or Dad — was alive, and there was no Beck in this world. 

He would be fine, indeed. 

_“I love you 3000.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> This was literally my first fan work of anything for MCU fandom, and honestly I didn't really think I'd end up actually writing anything for the fandom. But, eh, here we are anyway. 
> 
> Kudos and comments make my day, so don't be afraid to give me feedback on this!


End file.
